12-Year-Old's Letter Builds New Fields for 1,000+ Girls

When eight-year-old Evangeline Iarossi watched her softball practice get canceled again in 2021, she asked her mom a simple question over breakfast: "Why are there more baseball fields than softball fields?" Her mom's answer didn't sit right with her.

Evangeline's Tampa league had four baseball fields but only one for softball. When weather or scheduling conflicts happened, baseball teams moved to the softball field and girls lost their practice time. As more girls joined the program, older teams often got stuck practicing on tiny Tee Ball fields meant for kindergarteners.

So Evangeline sat down that afternoon and wrote two drafts of a letter to Tampa's mayor. She made one thing clear: she didn't want to take anything away from the boys. She just wanted equal opportunity for the girls.

Then she added one line that changed everything: "It's not the 1800s anymore, girls play sports, too."

The mayor's office didn't just respond. They partnered with Evangeline's family to design a multi-use field complex that could serve both baseball and softball teams. The city applied for a grant from the National Recreation and Park Association with The Walt Disney Company, winning $40,000 in 2022 to make it happen.

This month, four years after that breakfast conversation, the complex opened its gates. Hundreds more girls are now signing up for softball in Tampa, and the city has already identified another complex to convert based on Evangeline's model.

The Ripple Effect

Evangeline's letter now hangs in the World of Little League Museum in Pennsylvania alongside a signed jersey. She appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show and received recognition from county commissioners. But the real momentum came two years after her initial success.

Now 12, Evangeline and her sister launched a nonprofit called "Not the 1800s" to tackle gender inequality in youth sports. The organization has raised more than $5,000 and recently sent Evangeline to the Dominican Republic to personally deliver 18 new gloves, catcher's mitts, and helmets to young athletes who had never owned proper equipment.

"It was such an emotional experience," Evangeline said about seeing the kids' reactions. What started as one frustrated girl asking why became a movement that's crossing borders and changing lives.

Evangeline's voice made waves in her Tampa community, and those waves keep spreading to athletes who need them most.